July 11, 2012 by darrell
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Darrell & Andy have been challenged to make a Warhammer 40K 6th Edition allied army list that can help the Tau get back in the game.
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I would change the ork boys to shoota boys as they become very good once somebody charges them.
I’ll be playing both Shoota and Slugga Boyz during Live Rounds on Friday… let’s see which version is better in 6th Edition! 🙂
Blackadder reference there ? Guys, Tau is indeed not a great codex, but you there’s some better stuff here&there: 1. Get a standard HQ… It can get better upgrades, and at least has WS4 (and you’re saving like a 100pts) 2. I would throw the pathfinders away, and exchange them for some army wide upgrades: get transports for the troops (you can use these as movable terrain to stick your broadsides behind, get some shield drones to the broadsides, markerlights on the troops,… 3. I don’t think Orks are the best allies… What orks can do, tau can do reasonable… Read more »
My hope when I asked for this vid was that they would have went with Space Marines, I was thinking terminators too, hadn’t thought about the Librarian though mmmmm Psykers in a tau list that could be fun, I’m wondering if the Tau and SM FAQ’s crippled it in some way, and even then what powers would be effective? Anyway, the lads voted me down lol and BOTH felt that big groups of boyz we’re a better option to give the main Tau force more time to let its shooting be effective. I do wonder if the resulting list from… Read more »
well, if you want psykers, eldrad or a farseer (55 + 15 pts) is great for that and they have good powers to choose from.
for SM, the only codex power that’s great is null zone (enemy re-rolls successful invulns). If you traded your powers in, you’d really want divination, which SM doesn’t get (the primaris power being re-roll to hit w/ everything). eldar does though, but eldar doesn’t have sturdy CC units, and kroot, like orks, will die to flamers, space wolves, blood angels, and cleansing flame pretty quick.
I played 40K since 1996, so bored of it now
I’m just putting down some corrections here.
4+ Cover save for Stealthsuits guys, they have Shroud (+2) AND Stealth (+1), which accumilate together.
Pulse Rifles have a 15″ range RF rather than 12″ Rapid fire is half range.
Skimmers get the Jink special rule so Disruption pods are frankly useless now.
And there is slight portental for incredably silly Tau cheese here, like EMP grenades that glance on a 4 or a 5 and penning on 6s, as with the new rules enough 4s with assaulting Firewarriors/Pathfinders could kill any tank, even a Monolith.
Also, Aun’Va? no guys, just no.
Also, get a Ageis Defence line for the Broadsides. 50 points for 3+ Cover saves baby!
Aun’Va is the greatest Tau guy ever! It says so right in the fluff!!!
He’s protected by the toughest uber-Tau-hombres the entire Tau Empire can muster, with WS:4 S:5 T:5 and a 4+ cover save that he rerolls.
OK… if he dies all your Tau might run away… but that’s better than getting eaten by the Thunderwolves that just ate Aun’Va! 🙂
Truely! they have the most deadly weapons of them all, small knives! Speaking seriously though, My Shadowsun has never let me down, thats all i’ll say :> My 1750 list is Shadowsun, 2 squads of 10 Firewarriors with 2 normal Devilfish (Like I said Disruption pod is useless now which makes me sad-face), 2 squads of 5 Pathfinders, 2 squads of 2 Broadsides, Ageis Defence line with Quad-gun and for allies I have Space Marines, their HQ is Master of the Forge with Conversion Beamer, 2 Ironclad Dreadnaughts with 2 Hunter Killers each (Heavy and Elite because of MotF), 2… Read more »
Sorry forgot to mention a Stormtalon with Skyhammer missiles, its basically a flyer with an Ion Cannon.
You guys are idiots. Where is Shadowsun and sniper teams with 4+ cover in the open and 2+ in terrain? What about gun drones firing overwatch with twin-linked S5? What about Shas’Vre all being characters and using Precision Strike? 7 of them with Farsight? Hammerheads with TL and MT firing everything every turn? Markerlights not being affected by Night Fighting and being able to allow a unit to ignore Night Fighting? Rapid firing S5 at 30″, twice at 15″? This video seems designed simply to take the piss out of a codex which you guys don’t understand. If it isn’t… Read more »
I’m thinking we’ll get a third party on the screen for some of these vids to challenge the guys right there and then, that would make interesting viewing 🙂
Interested?
I would like to see that! Tau are so often overlooked because they are awful in combat and are meant to be shooty despite BS3.
Sorry but the GW TAU FAQ/ERRATA has nerfed the idea of the bodyguards being characters by explicitly defining body guards as infantry (Jetpack) not infantry (Jetpack, Character).
Fair point, I hadn’t spotted that!
Christ you guys don’t know how to build a Tau army list even if it hit’s you square in the face. It’s like this, HQ 1 crisis suit fire knife elite x3 crisis suits either fire knife, or twin-linked plasma (if your not running markerlight support) 3 more crisis suits another 3 more crisis suits troops 6 fire warriors 6 more heavy support 1-2 broadsides (with shield drones) another 1-2 and another 1-2 (or if you feel mixing it up throw in a railhead) and if GW is letting forgeworld models to be standard 2-4 tetra for markerlights support I… Read more »
Guys this is our opinion.
I see no reason to for Tau to ally with space marines and I really don’t think that a Terminator unit would help Tau, mostly because they will have to walk across the table, or deep strike, and then survive a round of shooting.
Two large units of Ork Boyz are a lot better. 60 boyz will take 10 terminators at their ease.
Ork boyz are ok but feel will suffer by gettinh shot up on the move or from overwatch when charging, and if your just going to sit on a objective not sure a guard blob would be better.
But ally not even the reason for the rage, it thats some of your unit choose in the dex seem to be pointless, and ineffective.
Of course it is! I don’t think anyone (perhaps with the exception of one or two people) really ment to break you guys opinion down… Just that… Well, the problem is that, unless you’re a veteran tau player yourself or you play very regularly against them, building a competitive list is really, really, really difficult with Tau… It’s a just a bad codex all round (not saying you can’t win with it or sth alike, just that it’s… well… outdated). About the termies/ork thing… I’d just like to see terminators, simply because it adds something Tau don’t have access to:… Read more »
well the problem with kroot as a horde, are the same as orkz, getting shot up outside of cover, also there don’t get 3+ cover save in woods =(, I guess you can shoot things up after outflanking, but still not worth it in my mind.
Kroot are not really the same as Orks… they’re poor cousins.
They don’t have WS:4, T:4, Furious Charge (for S:4 assaults), Pistol & Choppa (for a bonus attack) or the choice of a Shoota (Assault 2).
They don’t have the option of a squad leader with a big power fist (Power Klaw) weapon… and they’re not Fearless…
That extra cover save is not going to save them in combat and other than that… do they get an armour save?
The Orks at least get a (measly) 6+, but it’s Toughness 4 that really makes the difference.
Well, I’m not saying orks are as good as kroot… While kroot are like Lemur, orks are like the gorilla’s from ‘Rise of the Planet of The Apes’. Imo, they just don’t add much from a strategic pt of view, meaning: they’re better than kroot, but they play very alike… yes, you can throw orks into much more dangerous stuff, and yes, kroot can outflank etc. But why do tau need horde units? To protect their fireline. And for that purpose, kroot&orks work about just as good (with the exception of T4 of course) (And btw Kroot also have WS… Read more »
A kroot rifle counts as having 2 CCWs for the purposes of getting an extra attack, tau codex, p29 under kroot rifle. they’re also S4 WS4 and have a rapid fire weapon.. If you want you can take hounds though which save you a point and go at I5.
I’m not saying they’re amazing, but it’s not that big a difference.
as for the list, aun’va and no crisis suits isn’t going to be competitive at all. suits are all they got. and not stealth suits, which are quite overpriced.
Perhaps a bit expensive but another option instead of the Pathfinder is to give the Stealth Suits drone controllers and two Marker Drones each. It means your 6 marker shots are costing 180 points but the marker drones are jet pack troops so are mobile with the marker lights and they also have the stealth rules so 4+ cover save in the open, 2+ behind cover. It does mean with the extra points you’re losing the fish but it’s another option for getting your marker shots and you can keep them mobile.
Tau’s problem is fast, mobile, fighty combat units… like those that turn up in nearly any reputable tournament list… (Jump Pack) Assault Marines… Thunderwolf Cavalry… etc. Big blobs of Ork Boyz are the perfect tar pit unit to soak up a charge. Of course anyone sensible will try to avoid the tar pit and eat the squishy Tau, but it’s hard to avoid a unit as big as 30 Ork Boyz. OK… we may have had a bit of fun with Aun’Va and his super-Tau-bodyguard (with their pointy sticks)… and the exploding Tau Stealth Suits. However, the Tau gained very… Read more »
I understand this all to well Tau being one of the biggest jokes of 5th (oh and a shot out to you sister players we feel for you), but with 6th ed nurfing assult armys a bit and the whole ally thing, you lot got my hopes up that there some unseen cheese, some way Tau can play along with the big boys. I just flet this video was just another poking fun at the blue guys again.
@darklomli The more fun we poke at the “greater good” perhaps the quicker they will get a Codex update.
The more that players understand that the Tau really are the whipping boys of 40K, perhaps the sooner we can send the message to those with the ability to change it.
Remember… it’s only toy soldiers. If we don’t like them, so what? Your day will come, when the codex gets an update… well we hope it will anyway.
No they won’t… (not until late 2013 I bet) its GW, Tau don’t sell, SPAECH MORINES DO.
@darklomli Although… as Darrell said in the video (after we had our fun with Aun’Va & Stealth Suits)… the Fire Warriors really aren’t too bad now (at least for their points cost). Overwatch gives them a (very slim) chance to do some damage to assaulting enemies and the ability to fall back from enemies they can’t hurt is a general improvement for all crappy combat units. Broadsides, with a 2+ armour save and the ability to gain a cover save, are generally better than Hammerheads, while all the Crisis Suits can stand up to Power Weapons much better than they… Read more »
No! Certainly don’t!
Just tell that it’s just a fun list… Well not literaly (not “Hey guys, this video is not serious at all, so if you want something serious… Go and watch that video where we talk about The Sanguinor”). But.. Well, you get the point.
One of the things that could make Overwatch a bit better for Tau is upgrading one of the Fire Warriors to a Shas’ui for 10 points then giving it a drone controller and then 2 Gun drones for another 20 points. It’s extra shooting as you go but on overwatch the Gun Drones are twin-linked so more likely to hit and if they get a pin then they stop the assault altogether. I’ve done the mathhammer on it too and it’s not as bad as you’d think. Assuming a squad of assault marines and 2 gun drones you’ll get a… Read more »
@yarr Overwatch shots cannot pin the charging unit, nor force them to take a morale check… it’s part of the Overwatch limitations (see page 21 of the Rulebook).
Well, I’ll be… I’d forgotten about that one. Thanks @beerogre! Such a good odds too 😉
to make the list legal you will need:
1 + Commander in Crisis suit. (Aun’Va doesn’t count towards this – Shas’El + Twin linked flamer + Black sun filter = 59pts minimum)
The Broad sides MUST take 1 battle suit support system (Black sun Filter at 3pts is cheapest : +9 pts minimum)
At 2000 points you unlock a second FOC so you can take 3 more broadsides minimum.
For the vehicles take sensor spines – 10 pts to never take a terrain test on your vehicles.
Its like they didn’t actually read the codex.
Blacksun filter on broadsides is amazing for 3pts now.
@fleafa Actually, we looked at the Crisis Suit Commander and thought he was utter garbage, so we looked for an HQ that provided some sort of buff… one we could hide for most of the game… Aun’Va was so appalling that we couldn’t help but include him. I’ll admit I missed the requirement to have a Crisis Suit Commander. That’s the penalty of dealing with the more updated codex that don’t have requirements like that. Hopefully in the next update, the Crisis Suits will get a boost. Perhaps something like Hit & Run that will let them run away from… Read more »
Shas’O isn’t too bad.
BS 5, 4 wounds. Give him Plasma and missiles and jump him about.
Better than spending 205 points on something that does nothing.
@rokco … never underestimate the intimidation value of pointy fruit! 😉
He’s only 50pts for a 3W T4 3+ character. Admittedly, you need 3 suit systems added to that. Options which I think make them good: Able to have a 2+ and a 4++ Drones as ablative wounds. Positional Relay – VERY useful when combined with re-rolling sctattered DS in LoS of Pathfinder Devilfish. Able to take and fire two weapons. Precision Strike with a fusion blaster and a plasma rifle. If you want to hide an HQ, take a regular ethereal and pop him in a broadside unit with drones. Shadowsun passes her Ld10 on to all Tau in a… Read more »
tau are swish by themselves. my tau have just won 2 battles against salamanders and dark eldar. and during last week i have one all 6 of my games. the rules in general have really helped them not only that an ally makes them more balanced/versatile. i used necrons and tau together and it was just a horrible alliance (tau 1000pts, necrons 500pts)
@kingdee i think with out a basic solid core of just Tau, your not going to gain any real benefit from allies with Tau. You’ll probably need at least a 2000 point list… and anything below that and you should find something that compliments Tau strengths, not offsets their weakness. Otherwise both forces strengths get diluted.
So the game is still a bit ; http://www.monkeyboobies.com/gallery/d/221-2/drive+me+closer_+i+want+to+hit+them+with+my+sword.png
?
Good call. I entered a doubled tournie with my orks and a tau teamate, we had pretty much identical lists too you (except crisis HQ, no pathfinders, and shootas instead of slugs) and we did very well. I was concerned (being an ork player) about the two armys moving at different speeds per say, but we made up for this by covering each others weaknesses. In 6th edition i would think about taking black sun filters, eavy armour on nobz and a warboss instead of a BMek although i havent tested it out. Ignore the tau fanboys, i reckon eldar… Read more »
What about Playing an eldar list with guide farseers. Tau allies with lost of Fire warriors getting to re roll railed hits in shooting. That scares the crap out of me. Or two tau detachments with two small eldar attachments again farseers with guide.
With the improvements to shooting tau could be the closest thing to untouchable.
Plus getting killed easy in cc is not always a bad thing. if something gets into cc with tau it will kill them on the turn they assault not the tau’s allowing the tau to shoot whatever assaulted the next turn.
Yes! eldar farseers + tau is so good =]
what about all tau having acces to night vision rules and using Imohtek, the stormlord from the necrons, so he forces night fighting all game long and the tau can shoot all day no penalties XD??
Good tactic…but you would have to roll a d6 for each tau unit since they count as enemy units “Units in your army treat allies of convenience as enemy units”
When I started watching this Video I just thought that you guys were wasting time and slopping together a joke list I was half expecting to hear you guys start talking about the Ion cannon hammerheads you put in the list. I was surprised to watch through and see that it was a semi-honest attempt. If you guys didn’t think this army was even worth the look at because they are so weak why did you even bother with the video I wonder? Was it just to draw more attention to the what I would presume is a reasonably well… Read more »
The problem with Tau is. Whatever they can do, everyone else can do better, lol.
Great vid guys! Got a good laugh out of it, lol.
Though in your experience is Aun’Va the most useless character ever? If it had access to some physic powers then yeah maybe.
The tau will probably get some sort of close combat troops, making sure they keep up with the essential advanced retro-tech of the other races.
@hatamoto My hope would be that the Vespid become better. Even a pistol & CC weapon option, plus poison or something (they are big wasp guys after all) would make them a great addition to the Tau force.
Having a fast (they’re jump troops) combat unit to intercept those fast enemy units would really give the Tau the edge they need… even better if the Vespids stood a chance at winning the combat.
I really enjoyed this video. IMHO, a lot of people forget that W40K is a game(!) and at the end of the day is meant for having fun with your mates. Anyone getting angry because someone insulted the honour of their favourite (imaginary) army needs to get a sense of perspective 😉 . That said, I quite like the look of the the Tau and will likely be giving them a go in the near future weak codex or not 🙂 .
@stonemonkey56 … that’s the spirit! 🙂
Well… ‘It’s the spirit’ in terms of:
“it’s a game, the pt is to enjoy yourself”,
and in terms of:
“I’ll play them because I like the looks, weak codex or not”
But dismissing other peoples comments with “get a sense of perspective”… Hmm, not really.
After all, the metagame is a big part of 40k, and talking about how to get the best list is an even bigger part… I mean, otherwise we wouldn’t have ‘Enlisted’ videos here on BoW, right?
Well, @stonemonkey56 your comment probably wasn’t ment like that, still.. I had to say sth
…
Not saying I didn’t enjoy this video!
That is how I meant it – nothing wrong w/ discussing the meta-game/ best lists etc but getting upset when someone has a bit of fun is silly 🙂
Personally, I am annoyed that this video could have been more informed but just seemed to be a piss-take and a missed opportunity. Titling it, ‘Let’s look at how old this codex is and how many redundant choices are available within!’ would have been more accurate and there would have been plenty of fair points to be made.
WTF choices include Vespid, Aun ‘Va and the Skyray. Plenty of choices are also overpriced.
But if a video is being made to construct a competitive list, those involved should give it a proper attempt.
Wow… I like Darrell and Andy’s commentary usually but they really don’t know how to play Tau at all. I would look to a more experienced Eldar player to create a list if you didn’t have a Tau one. It’s quite obvious their preference of play style. I can tell all you new guys who might be reading these comments right now, once you get beyond the usual smash and grab tactics you can really screw with your opponents head. Don’t play the game of smashing heads together if you want to play Tau or a similar force. Similar to… Read more »
Well… being this my first post I would’ve expected it to be different… but I have to say as a not so experienced Tau player that I was in fact expecting for a more “solid” video… as noted before, you guys overlooked a LOT of stuff…. seriously… TONS!!! accepting Meta-Gaming is a big part of the game but on the other hand making a video-joke of it is a bit contradictory… and since the rest of the videos I’ve seen here are great, to me also a delusion. On to technical details I know after three years of deep reading… Read more »
Agreed, believe it or not, the only good armies are not grey knights and space wolves. Even if the army is weaker than the top tier, there is still a theoretically strong, or ‘competitive’ (in the sense of being competitive more than other tau lists) list you could write. I get the spirit of the jibe but guys off the evidence of this and the recent dark eldar video, I think I’d be disappointed if the army I played received a video like this, even if it is in good fun.
Whoooa there is some serious nerd rage in this thread, all well and good pointing out errors and yes there are a few but its BoW in my opinion has always been focused as much on entertainment as they have on hard facts videos. You can spot a lot of errors if you know the army/game in question well, these guys are covering everything they cannot be experts at it all. No need for the hostility and calling people idiots, if your not keen correct the facts, state you found this to be a bad video or vote with your… Read more »
Personally I’m running Space Marines, specifically Iron Hands, with my Tau. The reason being that the local shop I play at uses ALOT of ruins, so a Master of the Forge with Conversion Beamer can use the Bolster Defenses special rule for my Pathfinders, as well as a Sniper Rifle equipped unit of Scouts. Also there is the access to Servitors which are essentially another Heavy/Elite choice given their weapons loadouts. Another factor is that Blessing of the Omnissiah will allow the HQ to repair Tau Vehicle hullpoints (It will, check the errata), which is fantastic for Hammerheads. You also… Read more »
Hilarious video. Good sense of humor but you obviously don’t know anything about playing Tau. If you want to play Tau and be competitive in this edition do this. Take Necrons as allies. They are tough and nobody real “wants” to assault a huge unit of warriors or get near them. (You don’t need to roll for One Eye Open because they are Allies of Convince and not Desperate Allies) Take Imotekh the Storm Lord to force you opponent to fight night fight. This works perfectly for Tau because any leader (in any unit) can take a blacksun filter which… Read more »
Dear Gue’vesa Andy and Darrell, the regional Ethereal council has noticed your continuous mocking of our master of the undying spirit Aun’Va. While being under the protection of the Tau empire brings you freedom of speech, unknown in the Imperium of man. The regional council has to notify while the our dear leader was amused by the video, not the same can be said of our Kroot allies. Freedom in the Tau empire is one of our corner stones and we are not stopping the horde of Kroot rampaging (please see the video demonstrating Kroot behavior among fellow Gue’vesa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zinnk0Yhg5k&feature=related)… Read more »